On Thursday night, the Dallas Mavericks battled the Houston Rockets in the first game of their five-game home stretch at the American Airlines Center.
Dallas entered this game coming off a win over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday night, and it looked like they had plenty of momentum after this wild game went down to the wire with one of the Western’s powerhouses earlier this week. Conference.
That ultimately turned out not to be the case, as Dallas got off to a slow start and trailed by 17 points after just three minutes in the second quarter. The Mavs cut the lead to 13 points at halftime, but couldn’t get enough consistent firepower late in the game to get the win.
The offense looked extremely stagnant early on and the overall contributions that fans saw on Tuesday night were nowhere to be found early in this game. The Mavs cut Houston’s lead to three points with just over a minute remaining, but were unable to come away with the victory as they lost 108–102.
Other than a few guys, no one had much going for them, and Dallas falls to 3-2 with the loss.
In a game where Luka Doncic wasn’t his best for most of the game outside of the fourth quarter, Kyrie Irving came up with a great performance.
Irving finished with 28 points, eight rebounds and seven assists while shooting 10-20 from the field and 5-6 from downtown. He was locked up from the opening tip and his three-point jumper remains automatic through the first five games of the season.
Irving consistently hit his spots all over the floor and made the defense pay, and he got some tough buckets early in this game when no one else could.
In the third quarter, when Dallas needed to mount a comeback, Irving was perhaps the only reliable offensive option as he got to the rim and imposed it on himself to help spark a rally, but no one else could really follow suit. He took over this match, but no one helped him on that front until the last twelve minutes.
Going into Thursday night’s game against Houston, Doncic was coming off a 24-point game against the Timberwolves, and while he ultimately hit a big shot, it wasn’t his best game. He shot 10-27 from the field and 1-8 from three, and this shooting slump continued against the Rockets.
Doncic finished with 29 points while shooting 12-25 from the field and 3-7 from downtown, and he didn’t immediately look like himself. He couldn’t make any impact anywhere on the floor in the first half, settling for some questionable shots early on.
The rust continued into the second half, but he dominated in the fourth quarter. Doncic put the team on his back and hit some incredibly hard shots, but it still wasn’t the dominant play we’ve come to expect from him. His foul trouble didn’t help either, but it’s clear there’s still some rust from the offseason.
29 points on nearly 50 percent shooting wouldn’t warrant a dud for almost anyone else in the NBA, but his first-half struggles combined with Dallas’ terrible rebounding were two of the reasons the Mavs found themselves in such a big hole early ended up.
Doncic took the blame for the team’s slow start after the game, and he will likely rebound on Sunday against the Orlando Magic.
Naji Marshall has started the season slowly offensively in the first week of the season, but his defense has been excellent. He prides himself on taking on the toughest defensive assignments, and he helped seal the game against the Timberwolves with a decisive steal on Anthony Edwards.
Marshall had a good second half against the Rockets, ultimately finishing with four points, two rebounds, three assists and one block, and his energy was the best we’ve seen from him. He got the crowd going in the fourth quarter and he played the best defense of the night on Jalen Green.
Playing long-term with Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving, Klay Thompson and PJ Washington, Marshall has shown how well he has performed, and he could become one of the team’s most underrated X-factors if he keeps it up.
His full impact doesn’t always show up in the stats, and he should be able to get into full attack mode over the next month or two.
PJ Washington hasn’t been able to get his flow going offensively yet this season, and despite his stellar defense over the past few games, he hasn’t been able to make the same offensive impact he did during last season’s playoffs. from the center.
Washington finished with six points, nine rebounds, three steals and three blocks, which ended up being a good all-around game, but he shot 0-2 from downtown. He doesn’t look as confident in catch-and-shoot situations, and he’ll need to gain some confidence and rhythm when taking those shots to be a full offensive threat.
His scoring in the paint has been a strong point of his game thus far, but he needs to be able to be the same threat from center that we saw in the playoffs as well as the lethal threat we know he can be when he is dialed in. .
He has shown Mavs fans plenty to be excited about defensively, and his three-point shooting should be able to pick up again with time. There were some reports suggesting that he had reworked his jumper over the summer, and it could take some extra time to get used to it if he did indeed make major changes to his mechanics.
Washington’s defense was the team’s best against Houston, but some threes will need to start falling consistently. Jason Kidd praised Washington’s defense after the game and he is emerging as the team’s favorite lockdown defender.
Even though Washington only shot two threes, there seemed to be quite a few looks he passed up.
.jpg?w=390&resize=390,220&ssl=1)
